Radar and Satellite Perspective of Sundays Storm

A band of mixed precipitation moved across eastern Minnesota and west central Wisconsin Sunday morning. Figure 1 below shows what the reflectivity looked like on the Chanhassen radar (KMPX). Figure 2 shows an image from the Dual Polarization aspect of the radar. This product is called "Correlation Coefficient." This product shows the similarities between the horizontal and vertical polarized echoes. There are quite a few areas in Figure 2 that have a yellow color around and south of the Twin Cities. The yellow color indicates a low correlation and the likelihood that mixed precipitation is occurring. This was indeed the case with reports of freezing rain, sleet and snow. The purple color well west and north of the Twin Cities indicates a high correlation, with just snow falling.

The last image, Figure 3, is a water vapor image from early Sunday afternoon. It shows dry air in the mid and upper levels of the atmosphere wrapping into east central and southeast Minnesota, which brought the precipitation to an end for much of the afternoon. The combination of the mixed precipitation in the morning and the drier air aloft in the afternoon, caused lowered snow totals for the Twin Cities, as well as points to the east and south, when compared to those well west and north of the Twin Cities.